ISSN 2409-1154 Науковий вісник Міжнародного гуманітарного університету. Сер.: Філологія. 2016 № 20 том 2
УДК 81-22
Bobrovnyk S. M.,
National Technical University of Ukraine
“Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”
ETYMOLOGY OF ENGLISH IDIOMS
Summary. The article deals with the etymology of English idioms. It reveals the notion of this phenomenon and its
reflection in the English language. It researches the fields of
this concept, defines the meaning of an idiom and the meaning of the term “etymology” and the origin of English idioms.
Idioms are social and cultural phenomena that reflect social
psychological characteristic of behavior, they relate to the
communicative human behavior which implies norms, rules
and traditions of communication of this or that lingua-cultural community. One of the most important aspects in the
study of the English language is the study of English idioms.
In any language there are expressions in which the individual
words that make up this expression lose their original meaning. Everyone strives to express ideas and thoughts expressively and it is impossible without idioms which are present
in every language of the world. They strengthen the speech
and improve understanding cultural norms of the community.
This article is undoubtedly relevant as it contains idioms of
the modern English language which reveal the beauty of the
language. And a great significance is given to the etymology
of the idioms’ origin, as it is easier to learn and understand
the idiom when you know the origin of it.
Key words: idiom, etymology, origin, expression, meaning, community, activity.
Introduction. One of the most important aspects in the study
of the English language is the study of English idioms. In any
language there are expressions in which the individual words that
make up this expression lose their original meaning. The general
meaning of this expression is not made up of individual meanings of words. Etymology comes from ancient Greece. The original meaning of the word “etymos” is real, authentic. The second
constituent of this term is“logia” which means “science, study”.
Thus, etymology is the science which is closely connected to
the origin of words. Why do we need etymology? Not only for
general development and being well-learnt, but knowing the derivation of idioms can help us remember words and phrases, form
certain associations with them. It greatly increases the knowledge
of the language and broadens thesaurus. An illustration is such a
common word as “hippopotamus” which is known for everybody,
but no means all know why it defines a wonderful animal. This
word includes two parts “hippos” (a horse) and “potamus” (a river), i. e. “hippopotamus” could be defined as “river horse” by this
notion. Many Ukrainian words originate from Latin and Greek
words. The examples are “micro” (small), “phone” (speak),
“scope” (see), “tele” (distance). Such roots are the components
of the compound nouns: “microphone, microscope, telephone, telescope”. The point is that teaching students about the etymology
of idioms can help to remember them easier and to use idioms
correctly in speech.
Aim and tasks. The aim of this article is to reveal the meaning
of some English idioms, their etymology, to study and analyse the
origin of the English idioms, to classify the origin of idioms into
groups reflecting different themes. As this knowledge can make
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a great contribution to understanding the language better and express the ideas noticeably and dramatically. Using idioms can help
you to establish contact with the people you are talking to and to
avoid the reputation of a “very serious” person. The more you
use idioms in your speech in the right context the better people
think of you. It can witness your good knowledge of the language
and the culture. Studying phrasal verbs enriches the speech, widens thesaurus, promotes effective communication and generalizes
knowledge about the country and its culture.
Theoretical background. The science which deals with idioms is called phraseology. The main principles of phraseology
as a linguistic discipline were worked out by N. Chomsky [4],
B. Fraser [6], V.V. Vinogradov [1], A.V. Kunin [2] and other
linguists. Modern foreign philology is concentrated on the corpus-based studies of idioms [5], their syntactic peculiarities and
cultural context [8].
S. Alavi defines idioms as “multi word expressions which
meanings cannot be deduced from the meaning of their parts in a
entirely compositional method” [5, p. 170].
According to B. Frazer, idioms organize one important part of
the language and culture. Knowing a language means knowing idioms of the language. Unlike from commonplace phrases, idioms
tend to be frozen in form and denotation and don’t allow change
in structure and meaning [6, p. 22].
Interpretation of idiomatic expressions by A.V. Kunin defines
idioms as rethinking of semantic transformation of literal meaning of the speech and language prototype of a phraseological unit
creating phraseological abstraction. Rethinking, being one of the
ways of reflection of reality in the human mind is associated with
the playback features reflected by objects on the foundation of
communication between them [2, p. 98].
Thus, there are many different approaches to the defining idioms. In the context we understand every word, but we cannot understand the whole meaning. These difficulties are connected with
idiomatic expressions. According to A.A. Reformatsky, phrasal
or idiomatic expressions are the words and word-combinations
which are specific for the speech of different population groups
by class or professional indication. The term phraseology comes
from French “phraseologie” or Greek “phrasis” – “expression”
and logos – “study”. Many scientists define this branch of lexic
as idioms [3, p. 70].
According to C. Ren an idiom is a fixed group of words the
meaning of which is not clear from the denotation of each single
word and can be understood at large, idioms are made of a set of
words or phrases. Idioms are a kind of cultural phenomenon. So,
they are not the results of the individuals, but they are the results
of collective intellectual in the civilization, which are influenced by
politics, trade, crafts, religion, and art, and so on. English idioms
are affected by English culture, which focus on social activities [9].
In phraseological unity the connotation of the whole is never
equal to the sum of the denotations of the elements. This is a qual-
ISSN 2409-1154 Науковий вісник Міжнародного гуманітарного університету. Сер.: Філологія. 2016 № 20 том 2
itatively new meaning, which appeared as a result of a peculiar
“chemical” combination of words. Phraseological unity is recognized by both external and on internal grounds. External formal
features are conventional, deceptive, unstable and do not play a
crucial role. They relate to unchangeable word order and the inability to be substituted by a synonym or some other word that
compose the unity of the idiomatic unity [1, p. 140].
Preliminary sampling. The analysis of the texts of different
genres can give us the material to outline the characteristic features of the idioms.
Take a look at this text, you have read the following text:
“Sam is a real cool cat. He never blows his stack and hardly
ever flies off the handle. What’s more, he knows how to get away
with things. Well, of course, he is getting on, too”. Obviously, the
style cannot be called a literature style, but native speakers in conversation with each other often use such idioms.
In close accordance with the American idioms dictionary idiomatic expressions used in the foregoing example have the following meaning: “to be a (real) cool cat” defines as “to be a really
calm person”; “to blow one’s stack” signifies “to lose control”;
“to fly off the handle” means “to become excessively angry”; “to
get away with something” is an equivalent to “to perpetrate an
illegitimate or tricky act without any harm”; “to be getting on” is
interpreted as “to get older”; “pepper and salt” means “black or
dark hair mixed with silver or grey”; “to make up for something”
is equal to “to recompense for something”; “to take it easy” has
several meanings – “to relax, to have a rest, not to worry”; “to
work out” is “to exercise, to do gymnastics”; the interpretation
of the idiomatic expression “to turn in” means “to go to bed at
night”; “like a breeze” defines as “without any effort, easily”; “to
have got it made” is interpreted as “to be successful” [6].
From this example we can see that idioms take a significant
place in studying of the language. Idioms are often used by Americans and Englishmen as they are usual for them, but for the people studying the language it can be as a foreign language that is
difficult to understand.
The form of alike idiomatic expression is stable; many of them
cannot function in another form. Studying the sources of these idioms and their usage in the sentences or situations can help greatly
to express the ideas and thoughts accurately and be sure in their
correct usage. The meaning of idioms does not coincide with the
meaning of the words comprising them. Word for word translation
of idioms into other languages does not reflect its accurate sense
or it gives absolutely different meaning.
Many words in idioms obtain metaphorical meaning; many of
them got figurative meaning and they are used in description of
actions or circumstances more or less similar topics which caused
them to the usage. It often happens that previous metaphorical
meaning of such idioms is clear. For instance, “to keep one’s head
above water”; “to be left stranded” (to be in difficult situation);
“much water has flown under the bridge(s) (since)” (a lot of time
has passed since then and many things have changed); “still waters run deep”, etc.
Classification of idioms. People use many idioms without
knowing their previous meaning. In preliminary consultation with
lexicographic sources [7; 8] and quantitative analysis of the results we came to the conclusion that frequently used idioms in
English can be classified into the main groups, ones which are
connected with nature and natural phenomena, others with human
activity, jobs.
Natural phenomena. There are some moon-related idioms in
English, including “to be over the moon” that means to be delighted; “to ask for the moon” that denotes to make excessive and
impossible demands; “once in a blue moon”, the phrase refers to
something that takes place very seldom. For example: “We only
can see him once in a blue moon”. Confusingly, “a blue moon”
doesn’t refer to the actual colour of the moon; it means that when
the full moon can be seen two times in a month. This takes place
every two or three years. It’s believed that the word “blue” may
come from the word “belewe”, that is interpreted as “to betray”;
the “betrayer moon” was an supplementary spring full moon that
would mean people could have to fast for an additional month
during the Lent. The proverb in its present denotation was first
documented in 1821. Other idioms are connected with human life
and working experience, parts of body. For instance, the English
idiom “to turn a blind eye” means to pretend not to have detected
something. For instance: “She has taken one of the cakes, but I
turned a blind eye”. Remarkably, this idiom is said to have appeared as a result of the prominent English marine hero Admiral
Horatio Nelson, who, during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801,
is said to have purposely upraised his telescope to his blind eye,
hence confirming that he would not see any indication from his
superior giving him discernment to remove from the combat [10].
The English idiom “to blow one’s own trumpet” that denotes
to brag about your own accomplishments is widely used by Americans. For example: “Without meaning to blow my own trumpet, I
became the of the class.” Though, the expressions with the similar
item had been in use for centuries, the concrete expression is first
documented by Anthony Trollope in his 1873 work Australia and
New Zealand. The idiom “to play it by ear” is also used by native
speakers; it has the following meaning as: let’s see how all this
will go. It means that things go by their plan rather than sticking
to a well-defined plan, you will see how deals go and choose the
course of action as you do. For instance: “What time shall we go
shopping?”, “Let’s see how the weather looks and play it by ear.”
This saying has its roots in music, as “playing something by ear”,
it can be interpreted as to play music without reference to the notes
on a page. This meaning of the phrase dates back to the 16th century, but the present use only came into being in mid-20th century
America, chiefly referring to sports. These days, the expression
can be used in any context [7].
Naval English idioms were borrowed from the speech of sailors as English has been a naval state, such as: “to touch bottom”
denotes to be at the lowest or worst point; “to hold at bay” means
– to keep somebody at the distance, not to let come closer; “there
are other (good) fish in the sea” means there are many other brilliant or more appropriate people, things, chances, or possibilities
in the world that one may find; “to weather the storm” denotes to
cope with a difficult job; “to rock the boat” has the meaning to
make troubles; “to know how the ropes tie”, e. g. if someone who
“knows the ropes ties” it means that he is experienced at what he
is doing. “Showing someone the ropes” means to explain to them
how something must be done. For instance: “Ask Mike, he knows
how the ropes tie”. This idiom has its origins in the golden age of
sailing, when understanding how to tackle the ropes to run a ship
and it was an indispensable marine skillfulness. By the middle of
19-th century it was a common slang expression, and it continues
to exist nowadays [7].
If we take a well-known English idioms “raining cats and
dogs”. It denotes a hard rain. For this kind of weather, we can say
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ISSN 2409-1154 Науковий вісник Міжнародного гуманітарного університету. Сер.: Філологія. 2016 № 20 том 2
it was ‘bucketing it down’ when it’s raining heavily. For example:
“Listen to that rain!” “It’s raining cats and dogs!” “Look at how
it pours! I am not going out in that storm. It’s raining cats and
dogs”. The source of this weird phrase is vague, though it was first
documented in 1651 in the poem of Henry Vaughan’s collection
“Olor Iscanus”. Speculations about its origins dates from old-fashioned superstition of Norse mythology, but it can refer to the dead
animals being swept away through the roads by floods [6].
Conclusions. We strive to have our speech understandable
and clear and at the same time we willingly use words in unusual meaning, knowing that novelty and uncommonness affect our
imagination and add liveliness and charm to our speech. Many
idioms appeared in professional speech, as all types of human activity have its lexis, its specific terms which sometimes penetrate
in metaphoric usage in literary language. Our speech transfers all
richness of life and its interrelations, all thoughts and feelings.
Literary language is ready to borrow special terms which are present in day-to-day existence. Idioms and sayings created by people
from different spheres of activity, being precise, colloquial, vivid
reflecting life can always find application in expressive speech.
Sailors, cooks, hunters who needed to express a threat, order
or warning were able to find bright word-combination, colorful
metaphors connected with circumstances of their activity. These
phrases impressed listeners’ imagination entered their professional vocabulary. Afterwards some of these phrases got wider sense
and were used in similar situation in another sphere, often with
humor. And gradually the brightest and expressive phrases penetrated into literary language having become a universal heritage.
An indispensable condition for the successful mastering of
the English language is the knowledge of idioms and idiomatic
expressions, as well as the sources of their origin. In order to use
this or that idiom, it is necessary to know its true origin. The assigned objectives and tasks were achieved. The sources of English
idioms’ origin were studied and analyzed. Having studied the origin of many English idioms it is obvious that all of them reflect
different direction and topics: observation of nature, parts of body,
people’s activity, especially sailors’ activity, trade, weather conditions. With the help of idioms information aspect of the language
is added by sensitive-intuitive description of the world. For instance, if we take these proverbs: “Rome was not built in a day”;
“all roads lead to Rome”. Being the biggest city, the center of the
world, Rome played a significant role in life of people, and it was
reflected in the language. Another source of idioms is parts of human body, which gave the largest number of idioms, e. g. “to keep
one’s head”, and also “to have a head on one’s shoulders” means
to be reasonable in different situations.
The English language has a long history. For centuries, it has
accumulated a large number of idiomatic expressions that were
once uttered by someone and they were liked by people and were
fixed in the language, being successful, well-aimed and beautiful.
And later the special layer of the language appeared, phraseology,
the collection of fixed expressions with their special meaning. The
range of areas of all idioms is diverse and wide. Frequently used
idioms composed with the sea and natural themes are in the prospect of investigation in fiction.
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Undoubtedly knowing the origin of the idioms can significantly help to learn the idioms faster. Thus, the perspective of our further investigation is the analysis of the previously distinguished
groups of idioms in British and American fiction.
References:
1. Виноградов В.В. Об основных типах фразеологических единиц в
русском языке / В.В. Виноградов // Избр. труды. Лексикология и
лексикография. – М., 1977. – С. 140–161.
2. Кунин A.B. Асимметрия в сфере фразеологии / А.В. Кунин // Вопросы языкознания. – 1988. – № 3. – С. 98–107.
3. Реформатский А.А. Введение в языковедение / А.А. Реформатский. –
М. : Аспент-Пресс, 1996. – 275 с.
4. Хомский Н. Аспекты теории синтаксиса / Н. Хомский. – М. : Изд-во
Моск. ун-та, 1972. – 259 с.
5. Alavi S. Analyzing Idioms and Their Frequency in Three Advanced ILI
Textbooks: A Corpus-Based Study / S. Alavi, A. Rajabpoor // English
Language Teaching. – 2015. – Vol. 8. – No. 1. – P. 170–179.
6. Fraser B. Idioms within a Transformational Grammar / B. Fraser //
Foundations of Language. – 1970. – Vol. 6. – No. 1. – P. 22–24.
7. Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. – Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2002. – 1692 p.
8. Spears R. NTC’s American Idioms Dictionary / R. Spears. – National
Textbook Company; McGraw-Hill, 2000. – 640 p.
9. Ren C. Translation of English Idioms from the Perspective of Cultural
Context / Chi Ren, Hao Yu // Cross-Cultural Communication. – 2013. –
Vol. 9. – No. 5. – P. 78–82.
10. 20 English Idioms with their Meanings and Origins [Електронний ресурс]. – Режим доступу : https://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/
bizarre-english-idioms-meaning-origins.html.
Бобровник С. М. Етимологія англійських ідіом
Анотація. У статті розглядається етимологія англійських
ідіом, розкривається походження ідіом і їх відображення в
англійській мові, дається визначення ідіом і значення терміна «етимологія», приводяться приклади походження деяких
англійських ідіом із прикладами вживання та історією походження. Одним із найбільш важливих аспектів у вивченні іноземної мови є вивчення ідіом, так як у будь-якій мові є
вирази, де окремі слова, що становлять цей вираз, зрозумілі,
а переклад виразу загалом неясний. Кожен прагне виразити
свої ідеї й думки експресивно, і це неможливо без вивчення ідіом, які наявні в будь-якій мові світу. Ідіоми надають
забарвлення мовленню, покращують розуміння культурних
норм суспільства. Безсумнівно, стаття є релевантною, так
як вона містить ідіоми сучасної англійської мови, проливає
світло на походження цих ідіом, це надає можливість краще
їх зрозуміти й засвоїти. Англійська мова має довгу історію.
Протягом багатьох століть вона накопичувала велику кількість ідіоматичних виразів, які були колись сказані кимось,
сподобалися людям своєю своєрідністю й чіткістю формулювання, закріпилися в мові, стали успішними, влучними та
красивими. А пізніше з’явився спеціальний прошарок мови,
фразеологія, як сукупність стійких виразів із їхнім особливим
змістом. Діапазон площ усіх ідіом різноманітний і широкий.
Отже, вивчення ідіом є необхідною умовою вивчення іноземної мови, а знання походження таких виразів допоможе
засвоїти їх краще і правильно вживати в мовленні.
Ключові слова: ідіома, етимологія, походження, значення, спільнота, діяльність.
ISSN 2409-1154 Науковий вісник Міжнародного гуманітарного університету. Сер.: Філологія. 2016 № 20 том 2
Бобровник С. Н. Этимология английских идиом
Аннотация. В статье рассматривается этимология английских идиом, раскрывается происхождение идиом и их
отражение в английском языке, дается определение идиом и
значение термина «этимология», приводятся примеры происхождения некоторых английских идиом с примерами употребления и историей происхождения. Одним из наиболее
важных аспектов в изучении иностранного языка является
изучение идиом, так как в любом языке есть выражения, в
которых отдельные слова, которые составляют это выражение, понятны, а перевод выражения в целом неясен. Идиомы придают речи окраску, улучшают понимание культурных норм общества. Отсюда следует, что изучение идиом
является необходимым условием изучения иностранного
языка, а знание происхождения таких выражений поможет
усвоить их лучше и правильно употреблять в речи.
Ключевые слова: идиома, этимология, происхождение, значение, сообщество, деятельность.
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